Pointing to the Future
The creators of the project came to Boston last weekend bringing the art party with them. After placing arrows around Boston, they planned a party for Friday evening where the arrows would be showcased at an art installation and party.
In order to find the event, partygoers followed a scavenger hunt through the Boston area lead by the arrows and their accompanying text messages. At the end of the chase, the party came to Central Square’s Enormous Room, a suavely hip club identified only by the elephant printed on its door. In the midst of the darkened room flashed the main attraction: a slideshow of forgotten places or overlooked objects reclaimed with bright yellow arrows, historical notes and poetic phrases.
The images included everything from walls covered in graffiti to romantic waterscapes of the Charles. One shot of a van was explained with the simple yet potent, “The man with this van is quite simply the man.” Another showed the Brattle movie theatre and states, “The Brattle’s been inspiring cultural aficionados for over 100 years. Original hall was built the same year Groucho Marx was born.” As patrons mingled over martinis and beers, some occasionally stared in curiosity or amusement while others stood watching with rapt.
The creators of YellowArrow are coming back to Boston for another round of fun and arrows. The second installation party will be at the Enormous Room (567 Mass. Ave.) at 10 p.m. on Nov. 27.
YellowArrow will be heading to Miami during the Art Basel Festival to curate a festival of their own by placing large light boxes yellow arrow all over the city. Then it’s on to Los Angeles to inspire more arrows there.
They also hope to motivate people to hold YellowArrow events of their own: “I think there’s a lot of interest in people taking on the project themselves and coordinating maybe with local cultural institutions,” says Shapins, “we have this very simple gallery in a box we call it where we can take the database and recast it in a very presentable way that people can gather around and see the artwork displayed.”
Ultimately, the project is about you and the arrows. To learn how to place arrows or take a look at the online arrow gallery, visit Yellowarrow.org.
One recent posting shows a late-night Times Square with dazzling lights and larger-than-life advertisements. The message: “Crossroads of the world. Crosscultural Crossword puzzle. Words wash over. Grab ’em, make ’em yours. This is how the story is told.”